


Shit Outta Bad Luck

by swampslip



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: ? or chapter 3, Chapter 2: Horseshoe Overlook (Red Dead Redemption 2), Kissing, Multi, Spin the Bottle, i used a generator for the pairings and just rolled with it so, ish, mostly john's pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:48:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27773308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swampslip/pseuds/swampslip
Summary: “Rules are simple,” John says as he lowers himself to the ground with a small grunt of pain, stretching out his injured leg, “Spin it, whoever the mouth is pointin’ to gets to ask you a question, answer…”John trails off, letting the suspense hang as he looks at the members who relented and joined.Arthur, after a bribe, Javier, Charles, Dutch, Mary-Beth, Karen, Lenny, Sean, Hosea, and Trelawny.Tilly, Sadie, and Abigail all flat-out refused, all huddled on a blanket on the far side of camp with Jack.Javier had been the one to ask the three of them, and John had never seen Tilly look so flustered.“Or, you have to kiss them,” John says and he hears the slur in his own voice, pointing his finger at the bottle, “Who’s goin’ first?”
Relationships: basically if any pairing of any of these characters bothers you, multiple, scram
Comments: 7
Kudos: 33





	Shit Outta Bad Luck

**Author's Note:**

> had a thot, rolled with it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Perfectly, mindlessly, stupid, drunken fun. 

Exactly what they all needed after the weeks and weeks of constant stress. 

Javier helps him coax most of the members into sitting in a rough circle around a patch of cleared dirt. 

“Rules are simple,” John says as he lowers himself to the ground with a small grunt of pain, stretching out his injured leg, “Spin it, whoever the mouth is pointin’ to gets to ask you a question, _answer_ …”

John trails off, letting the suspense hang as he looks at the members who relented and joined. 

Arthur, after a bribe, Javier, Charles, Dutch, Mary-Beth, Karen, Lenny, Sean, Hosea, and Trelawny. 

Tilly, Sadie, and Abigail all flat-out refused, all huddled on a blanket on the far side of camp with Jack. 

Javier had been the one to ask the three of them, and John had never seen Tilly look so flustered. 

“Or, you have to _kiss_ them,” John says and he hears the slur in his own voice, pointing his finger at the bottle, “Who’s goin’ first?”

“What if we land on someone... We, uh- Ain’t particularly fond-?”

“Pretty obvious if you’re gon’ be rude about it,” John looks at Sean, challenging, “Commit or leave now.”

“Hell, Marston,” Sean says slyly, “If I didn’t know better I’d call you _eager_.”

John shrugs but feels his face warming from more than the alcohol. 

“There a minimum time we gotta…?” Arthur asks quietly across the circle and John looks at Javier, who shrugs. 

“I’d just aim to make it good, however long that takes you,” John says a bit teasingly but he sees Arthur’s eyes get dark and maybe he shouldn’t be taunting Arthur into proving himself. 

That never ends well. 

“First?” Javier prompts quietly. 

“Y’all take too long,” Karen huffs and moves onto her knees, reaching forward and spinning the bottle in the dirt, “I’ll do it.”

They all watch silently as the bottle spins and spins and then finally starts to slow. 

The mouth points at Hosea, who raises a brow at it, then the group, then Karen. 

“Mister Matthews,” Karen says sweetly, “You gotta question for me?”

“Ah… Hm,” Hosea squints at the younger woman, tilting his head slightly, “Did you keep that poor nun’s habit those years ago?”

“Oh, of course I did!” Karen laughs and sits back on her hands, “Some fellers like that kinda… _Sacrilege_.”

Hosea huffs quietly in amusement as a small murmur goes around the circle. 

“Alright,” Hosea says and gestures at the bottle, “Does this mean I’m the next sucker here?”

“Yeah,” John snorts and gestures widely, “Spin it, Hosea.”

Hosea shakes his head in fond amusement then reaches forward and uses a single finger to expertly coax the bottle into spinning like a top and John blinks at it. 

And they all fall quiet, again, waiting for it to slow, choose a victim. 

It lands on Sean, who stares then laughs nervously, pulling off his hat to brush his hair back out of his face. 

“Let’s see, Mister Matthews, Sir,” Sean swallows and glances sideways at Dutch, “Heard you was once thinkin’ ‘bout leavin’... Why’d you come back?”

Hosea’s brows furrow slightly and John looks at Arthur, who’s glancing between Hosea and Sean. 

Hosea pats the ground once then stands, steps over the bottle, crouches in front of Sean slowly. 

Sean looks up at him with wide eyes. 

“Your curiosity’s gonna put you in an early grave, Mister MacGuire,” Hosea murmurs but Arthur hears it and everyone watches as Hosea lifts Sean’s chin and presses their lips together briefly. 

John swallows the nervousness in his gut and looks at Arthur again, but the older man is simply leaning on one elbow, frowning. 

Hosea returns to his seat and Sean takes a moment to react, pressing his lips together and getting on his knees to spin. 

“Alright, who’s gettin’ a wet smack ofa-” Sean trails off as the bottle lands on Hosea, “Uh…”

“Spin it again,” John says. 

Sean doesn’t second-guess it and spins the bottle again. 

It lands on Charles and Sean lights up, mischievous. 

“Mister Smith,” Sean says brightly, “Ay, how ‘bout we skip the question n’ you let me plant one on you?”

“I have a question,” Charles says slowly. 

“Shoot.”

“Is all your hair that,” Charles gestures, “... Color?”

“Oh, _all_ of it, Charles, red _hot_ from top to toe,” Sean leers, leaning forward, “Would you like to check for honesty?”

“No, thank you,” Charles says politely and Sean sits back, realizing he was baited into an easy answer. 

Charles brushes his hands off on his shirt and carefully steadies the bottle, centering it in the dirt before spinning. 

“Dutch,” Charles says quietly. 

Dutch’s eyes crinkle when he smiles lightly at Charles, tilting his head. 

“You happy here, son?” Dutch asks, studying Charles, a bit intense.

Charles slowly sits back on his heels. 

“Yes. I-” Charles looks around briefly at all of them then makes a small, helpless gesture, “... I am.”

“Thank you for sticking with us, Mister Smith,” Dutch smiles genuinely and it’s one of the kindest looks John’s seen in Dutch’s eyes in months. 

Dutch spins. 

“Josiah,” Dutch drawls and grins crookedly, “You got a question for me, my trickster friend?”

Josiah smiles and hums in consideration, mostly watching the group of them in silence. 

“Where _did_ you get that lovely ruby vest of yours? I’d quite like a silk like that for my own wardrobe.”

Dutch rolls his eyes, sits back, frowns slightly. 

“Is it still an answer if I don’t remember?” Dutch asks wryly. 

“Losin’ your mind in your old age, Dutch?” Hosea rags and reaches over to smack the outside of Dutch’s thigh, “Join me for the ride.”

“I ain’t as old as you,” Dutch mutters quietly, raise a brow at John since he seems to know all the rules. 

“... I don’t think it counts,” John says quietly. 

“My, Mister van der Linde,” Josiah drawls and sits up straighter, “I do believe that means you have to _kiss_ me.”

Dutch shakes his head and huffs a small breath out his nose, shuffling the small distance and there’s something familiar about how he puts a hand on Josiah’s trim waist and leans in. 

There’s something familiar about the way Hosea is watching them, as well. 

John shifts and rubs his hand against the outside of his bad leg and sulks, just a bit. 

This isn’t nearly as fun as he thought it’d be. 

Karen whistles loudly as Dutch and Josiah kiss, slow and deep, and it draws most of the group into jeering or laughing as well. 

Josiah spins and it lands on Mary-Beth, who flushes and flusters and smooths out her skirts. 

“I- Uh… How do you do those lil’ tricks of yours?” Mary-Beth asks haltingly and Josiah quirks a brow at her, rising to his feet and coming to kneel in front of Mary-Beth. 

“Now, Miss, I’m sure you’ve heard a magician can’t reveal his secrets,” Josiah smiles knowingly, “Awfully sly of you, asking something you know I can’t answer.”

“Maybe,” Mary-Beth says quietly then makes a small, surprised noise when Josiah kisses her sweetly, one hand on her freckled, pinked cheek. 

Mary-Beth goes from pink to red and presses her lips together as Josiah goes back to his seat. 

Karen leaning in to prod and tease the younger woman. 

Mary-Beth lands on Dutch, who merely asks her about her writing and Mary-Beth answers readily, if a bit shy. 

Dutch lands on Arthur. 

Arthur seems to reconsider playing at all for a moment then steels himself. 

“You feelin’ alright, Dutch?” Arthur asks quietly. 

“I’m feeling fine, right now,” Dutch says carefully, “In general? Well, it’s been hard on all of us, lately, and you know I worry.”

Arthur accepts that and nods and spins the bottle and it lands on Lenny. 

“Mister Morgan,” Lenny smiles lightly. 

“Yeah, kid?”

“S’it your tent where that missin’ tin of jelly’s disappeared to?” Lenny asks coyly and Arthur blinks for a moment then frowns, brows furrowing. 

He gets up and crouches between Lenny and John. 

Arthur grumbles and mutters under his breath, hooking a finger under Lenny’s chin. 

“C’mere.”

And kisses Lenny and the younger man laughs softly into the kiss, leaning up into it as Arthur pulls back, grinning like the cat who caught the canary. 

“Pretty clear answer either way, Arthur,” Lenny whispers.

Arthur flusters and shoves lightly at Lenny before coaxing the younger up and pointing at where he’d been sat before. 

“Go on over there,” Arthur mutters, “Maybe you’ll get _lucky_.”

Lenny just laughs and moves, sitting himself next to Sean who whispers something in his ear almost immediately and Lenny just laughs harder, falling against Sean and clutching his stomach. 

John watches Arthur out of the corner of his eye. 

The annoyed furrow between his brows and the embarrassed flush of his cheeks. 

Lenny lands on Sean, and Sean ends up giving him a wet, smacking kiss that Lenny slaps the older man on the chest for. 

Sean lands on Karen. 

“How’s the _readin_ ’ comin’ along, Sean?” Karen asks with a small grin and a swig of some hooch or another. 

“The readin’s _comin_ ’ just fine, Miss Jones,” Sean says and leans back, so his shoulder brushes Lenny’s, “Care to join us for a lesson?”

“Like you could teach me anythin’,” Karen huffs and spins. 

And it lands on John, who sits up a bit. 

Karen smiles at him, pleasantly buzzed and John’s not in much better of a state, thinking hard on what to ask. 

“You like Sean?” John asks, a bit dumbly and it gets a myriad of amused reactions. 

“I like _parts_ of him,” Karen says and lifts her chin. 

John’s mouth quirks to the side unhappily. 

Spins, gets Hosea, and Hosea asks the easiest question he can think of to spare them both.

“How’s the leg?”

“Hurts!” John says bitterly then rolls his eyes and sits back, pouting slightly, he started the game for Christ’s sake, and he ain’t even been kissed yet. 

\--

Josiah, Hosea, and Dutch retire. 

Sean’s half-asleep and leaning on Lenny, Karen’s passed out with her head in Mary-Beth’s lap with the younger woman humming softly and brushing her fingers through Karen’s curls. 

Javier spins and it lands on John, who looks up tiredly. 

“John,” Javier says with a teasing tone, “Are you _sad?”_

“Sad?”

“That you haven’t been kissed?”

“No,” John says petulantly and Javier shakes his head. 

John spins and it lands on Arthur and John feels like being a little mean. 

“Why you stealin’ from the medical supplies?” John asks lowly. 

Arthur looks like he might swing for a second, then he reaches out and grabs John by the front of his shirt, yanks him over to close the distance between them. 

John gasps in pain then Arthur’s kissing him, tugging him so he’s almost in Arthur’s lap. 

And maybe Sean was right, maybe he is eager, maybe it’s been too long. 

John makes a small, desperate noise and grabs onto Arthur’s shoulders. 

His lip stings, he tastes blood and he knows Arthur tastes it as well, knows Arthur probably feels his hardness against the older man’s thigh and John whines again, a weak, involuntary sound.

Then the older man shoves him back, mouth set in a firm line, as he stands and tips his hat. 

“Goodnight, fellas, let’s _never_ do this again,” Arthur mutters and turns, walks to his tent and drops the flap.

John licks the scar on his lower lip nervously and looks up at everyone left, who are all looking back at him. 

“Think- Think this is over, then,” John says hoarsely. 

Mary-Beth helps Karen to bed and Charles moves closer to help John up when the younger man’s struggling. 

John can’t quite meet anyone’s eyes, thanks Charles quietly and says his goodnights. 

Hurrying past Arthur’s tent and into his own. 

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/gwennolmarie)   
>  [horny twitter](https://www.twitter.com/swampslip)   
>  [tumblr](https://providentialeyes.tumblr.com)


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